ueen's sovereignty over the whole
country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers to eastward of the
Quathlamba Mountains. According to Pretorius, the conference was an
unsatisfactory one. He assured the Governor that his people would
never consent to it. Sir Henry Smith nevertheless considered himself
justified in taking the step, and the Home Government, whose policy
it had been to consolidate the peaceful native States along the
border, eventually coincided with his view.

No sooner was the proclamation generally known than the horde of
Pretorius' followers flew to arms. They swept southward, driving
every British official beyond the Orange River. Major Warden, the
Resident at Bloemfontein, where a British fort and garrison had been
placed some two years before, was forced to capitulate.

Sir Harry Smith, on becoming acquainted with the news, at once
offered a thousand pounds for the arrest of Pretorius. He also began
a march to the front. The Governor thought that he had but to come,
see, and conquer; but he was mistaken. He had tough work before him.
The Boers, about a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves in a
formidable position. They were superior in point of numbers, horses,
and guns to Sir Harry's forces; but he pursued his way, nothing
daunted. He stormed the position, and, after a hard fight, scattered
the enemy. They fled from Boomplaats, where the engagement had taken
place, and hastened back across the Vaal to their native haunts. The
date of the battle was the 29th of August 1848, and the father of
President Kruger is said to have been the first man to fire a shot
at the British on that occasion!

After this period various dissensions arose in the Boer camp between
Pretorius, who styled himself "Chief of the whole united emigrant
force," and Potgieter, who looked upon himself somewhat in the light
of a rival. While these worthies fell out Sir Harry Smith saw the
annexation carried through, and the territory of the modern Free
State was united to Cape Colony, under the title of the Orange River
Sovereignty. The contumacious Boers took themselves off with their
leader across the Vaal, and fresh European settlers came in and
established themselves in the fertile plains that were deserted. For
some time after this things prospered, and Sir Harry saw before him
the prospect of a new self-governing Dutch colony, which would
resemble and equal those of Natal and the Cape. But he reckoned
without his host, a